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Not to be outdone by their British compatriots, the North American members of the League of Peculiar Gentlemen were also adept at strapping strange things to their faces.

Perhaps the most famous of the trio, is Larry “The Monocle” Zimmerman, pictured in the middle. The Monacle was one of the first superheroes to appear in the United States, and after he single-handedly defeated the Rodent Armada of the evil genius, Herr Zamboni, the CIA recruited him to the League. His “monocle face” was able to focus his intense self-loathing into a powerful “ennui” beam, causing his enemies to stop whatever they were doing and hang out at jazz cafes, smoke cigarettes, wear berets, and generally make them unable to foment communist rebellion in the Americas.

The other American member of the team (pictured on the left) was Professor Mezmordo, who had invented a headset capable of reading another’s thoughts. The headset was highly experimental, however, and was just as likely to cook the medulla oblongata of his foes as it was to allow the Professor to read anyone’s thoughts. (It also enabled Professor Mezmordo to grow a massive brain tumor in the shape of a second head, which is how he later became the supervillain, Professor Double Noggin.)

The lone Canadian on the team (right) was Roy “The Shelver” McMurphy, and his face-covering did not do anything except obscure his vision, which is probably why The Shelver was the first casualty on the team. However, it was McMurphy who deduced that his girlfriend, Pamela Lipwaxer, was an agent of the Committee for the Advancement of Stalin’s Mustache (CASM); this information was vital in giving the League their first victory over CASM’s hairy plots.

Alltop is the first casualty of humor. ohboys, a photo by Foxtongue on Flickr. Originally published May, 2012.

Though not as well-known as other Leagues composed of remarkable individuals, the League of Peculiar Gentlemen (LOPG) is none-the-less, an astonishing story of sacrifice, heroism, and strapping things over your face.

The first iteration of the LOPG featured six members of astonishing gravity, skill and oddness. They were an international organization, assembled by a joint task force of MI6, the CIA and the RCMP in the days following the end of WWII.

Their duty? To counteract the dire threat of the Communist Block and the proliferation of secret organizations dedicated to the destruction of the bourgeois freedoms enjoyed by the people of Western Europe and North America.

Propaganda poster: "Stalin's great mustache!"

Their main foe was the Committee for the Advancement of Stalin’s Moustache — a fanatical group of Communist performance artists and facial hair stylists who had already converted many French intellectuals to the Communist ideology.

The British members of the League are pictured above from the left to right: Philip Pidgeon-Whaling, aka The Gernsbacker; Wally Impetago, The Heavy Breather; and, of course, the leader of the League of Peculiar Gentlemen, Lord Berty Stumpwhistle, known to the British public as Colonel Helmet.